Why I Advocate: This illness is not me. It may be a part of my story, but it will never be strong enough to define me. Bringing awareness to sickle cell is so important to me because many Hispanics (Afro-Latino) like my parents don’t realize they carry the trait. I want to help educate the Latin community on this disease and bring some sort of hope to the younger sickle cell warriors that are in similar situations.